Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Sept 27, 2019 19:29:26 GMT
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Well, I actually bought this about 4 years ago. It’s been sat in a shed at rob0r s place since then, as neither of us were in a particular hurry to move it. Finally the planets aligned last weekend, I went over and we dragged it out. I was originally only meant to be having the rolling shell, but robs plans have changed in that time, so i gave him some more money and it left complete. I do need to sort him out a rear axle setup though, as that’s why he bought the car in the first place, as a donor.   When I bought it I’d been looking on and off for the ‘right’ e28 for a while. It had to be a good colour combo, and specifically an early pre-facelift car with the metal front valance. I just think they look so much better than the later ones. This is a 82-ish car, and alpine white with a Pacific blue interior is one of the best colour combos they did in my eyes.   It’s also quite a nice (if a bit odd) spec. It has the check panel in the roof usually reserved for higher spec cars, but coupled with a manual tilt-slide sunroof, which is odd as most e28 ones are electric.  It’s a 5 speed manual which I’m very happy about. It’s also got a full complement of electric windows, and electric mirrors.  The seats are herringbone cloth, again quite unusual they’re not velour or leather. a bit faded and mildew-y but should clean up fine.  It’s been off the road a while...  |
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Sept 27, 2019 19:41:41 GMT
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Love this, looking forward to watching the progress.
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Sept 27, 2019 21:55:43 GMT
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Apart from potential, the other thing that this car is packed with is rust. In e28 terms it’s not really that bad, but there’s still some bits most people would class as proper scary. These bits are by far the worst-   That’s the battery tray/inner wing/front panel intersection on each side. Known for rotting on these, but these are particularly bad. The front wings are also quite fragile (I’ve already bought one good one for a bargainous £15) and I have a pair of new klokkerholm sills, although they’re actually less rusty than you’d expect. Only the drivers front end around the jacking point actually looks suspect. Oddly the rear arches, lower rear 1/4s, rear valance and boot floor all seem reasonably good. There a few scabs but no gaping holes. The bolt on panels are a different story. The bonnet is an ex-bonnet. More than half of the inner skin is missing (well it isn’t, it’s just thinly spread through the engine bay in ferrous form).   Bootlid is also shot at the forward edge. Not where you’d expect it to go really, I’m guessing this car has spent an extended period parked in a hedge or something and vegative detritus has collected and caused the strange rot.  The doors will also need bits of attention, and ones got a hoofing great dent in it so may get replaced. But, bolt-on panels are easily swapped, and not terrible to get. And for those who don’t know what my day job is, its classic vehicle restoration and customisation, so I have all the skills and facilities to put the rest right without too much issue. |
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Last Edit: Sept 27, 2019 21:58:15 GMT by Dez
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Sept 27, 2019 22:09:43 GMT
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The other issue is whilst rob owned it, it was used as a parts car for his other projects, so it has some bits missing. A few bits have been robbed off the motor, like the TPS, throttle cable and bracket, oil filter housing, coil, header tank, rad and hoses(the one is there is a damaged one as a ‘pattern’ for getting the right replacement).  The worst part is rob needed the oil pump drove gear in a hurry to make his m30b35 swapped e30 work, and smashed the front off the sump to liberate it as at the time the engine was just going to be parted out and getting the sump off is basically an engine out job. Rob gave me a new sump he had spare to sort this now I plan on sorting the engine, but I’ve still got to source the drive gear and a new chain.  I’ve also got to source a complete rear axle as the deal was rob needs a donor e28 axle for his e3, but there ain’t too much of rush of that front. I’m off to pick up some of the parts needed tomorrow though, and am in the process of sourcing the rest. Oh, and in trade in treasure news, apart from various out of date coinage, I’ve now got a collection of vintage sick bags as well...  |
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philsford
Part of things
Posts: 733
Club RR Member Number: 100
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Sept 27, 2019 22:51:13 GMT
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2.5 manual is the ultimate spec for me. What the attraction is with autos is beyond me. I have been looking at c class mercs as a daily and manual options are limited.
Looking forward to seeing this progress.
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Last Edit: Sept 27, 2019 22:51:39 GMT by philsford
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,309
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Sept 27, 2019 23:13:47 GMT
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2.5 manual is the ultimate spec for me. What the attraction is with autos is beyond me. I have been looking at c class mercs as a daily and manual options are limited. Looking forward to seeing this progress. I've owned a manual Mercedes and you soon realise why. Try doing a hill start with a foot EPB;). I had to get a 'technique' at my unit with a hilll. A cool old thing anyway  . |
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,341 
Club RR Member Number: 160
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Sept 28, 2019 7:15:11 GMT
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Oil pump chains are easily available, when I did the chansons on the M10B18 in ours I bought the main chain from bmw but I ended up fitting a new pump chain too, was from eBay and exactly the same brand as the oe cam chain. IIRC it’s the same as a ford oil pump chain. If you buy a new TPS be careful that it actually functions, I bought a new one while fault chasing and it was devoid of the w.o.t. position, seemingly just because the parts manufacturers couldn’t be bothered. It’s only a switch, changing from idle, part throttle and w.o.t. rather than it being a potentiometer like a more modern car. If you need any engine management data let me know. And I trust you already know of realoem.com for looking up parts.
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Last Edit: Sept 28, 2019 7:16:14 GMT by Rich
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Sept 28, 2019 7:29:02 GMT
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Nice project, that’ll keep you busy.
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Sept 28, 2019 7:31:32 GMT
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I love the E28, and in that colour combo its perfect. The icing on the cake is the manual box. Thats quite a project you got on your hands there. Lots of potential.
The herringbone cloth is much better to restore than leather (assuming youve got no rips).
Get those sick bags on ebay. Someone will pay you good money for them.
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Sept 28, 2019 9:17:24 GMT
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2.5 manual is the ultimate spec for me. What the attraction is with autos is beyond me. I have been looking at c class mercs as a daily and manual options are limited. Looking forward to seeing this progress. I’ve previosly had an auto e28 (m20 though) and thought the gearbox was awful, hence me being so pleased this is manual. |
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Sept 28, 2019 9:22:36 GMT
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Oil pump chains are easily available, when I did the chansons on the M10B18 in ours I bought the main chain from bmw but I ended up fitting a new pump chain too, was from eBay and exactly the same brand as the oe cam chain. IIRC it’s the same as a ford oil pump chain. If you buy a new TPS be careful that it actually functions, I bought a new one while fault chasing and it was devoid of the w.o.t. position, seemingly just because the parts manufacturers couldn’t be bothered. It’s only a switch, changing from idle, part throttle and w.o.t. rather than it being a potentiometer like a more modern car. If you need any engine management data let me know. And I trust you already know of realoem.com for looking up parts. Yeah I found the chains, only 15-20 quid and it seems only INA and possibly febi make them. The real problem is the gear. There’s a few different variants and they all seem to be m30 or possibly m10 specific, I’m having trouble finding one. Think I’ve got a s/h TPS, in a job lot of parts, , should be picking it up later today. Again there’s quite a few variants of those as well because of different efi systems. And yes know all about realOEM, dead handy for cross referencing what other cars parts came on whilst parts hunting. Unfortunately almost everything I need is e28 or m30 specific which narrows the field somewhat. |
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Sept 28, 2019 9:24:25 GMT
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I love the E28, and in that colour combo its perfect. The icing on the cake is the manual box. Thats quite a project you got on your hands there. Lots of potential. The herringbone cloth is much better to restore than leather (assuming youve got no rips). Get those sick bags on ebay. Someone will pay you good money for them. Seats aren’t too bad except the drivers has a fag burn. If I could find another I’d swap the cover at least. I’m tempted to try to re-dye the cloth sections as they’ve faded a bit. Don’t want to get it wrong and f-k em up though! |
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Sept 28, 2019 18:53:09 GMT
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So today’s little shopping trip. I bought a job lot of bits, all M535i related, off a lad on ebay. I got a good condition set of driveshafts and flanges, which will go towards the rear end I need to build.  A box of random m30 ancillary bits, including an oil filter housing which I needed. Rob had given me an earlier one to replace the missing one but it takes a funny filter so I decided to get the later type if I could. As an added bonus it’s an M535i one with the take offs for an external oil cooler.   There’s also a throttle body with TPS in there. But annoyingly it’s the wrong one.  Best bit was probably the rebuilt rear callipers that have been gone through with bigg red parts.  Oddly there was also a really early chrome mirror in there, in reasonable condition. It’s got me thinking about swapping a pair onto the car now...  |
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Sept 28, 2019 19:26:05 GMT
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Once I got back I decided to strip the front end to properly assess the rot. So off the front wings came.       The front panel is bad. It’s basically attached to the car by two spotwelds in the middle 😂 There’s almost enough there to template from though. Only bit that’s a bit vague is the bit down the outside edge of the headlights. I have a plan for that though. Rest of the inner wings ain’t too bad, there’s a little bit on each wing rail I didn’t know about and one strut tower strengthener is holed, but tbh the A-pillars are better than I was expecting. The valance will probably repair too. I need a drivers front wing, I’ve already got a very good passenger one. just got some light surface rust I’ll get blasted.   Oh and a got a throttle cable bracket off the guy i got the wing off too, so that’s another fiddly little bit ticked off.  |
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Last Edit: Sept 28, 2019 19:28:32 GMT by Dez
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rob0r
East of England
Posts: 2,743
Club RR Member Number: 104
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Dez I still have those m535i E28 trailing arms and brakes complete... The more I look at this car the more I like it! I had written it off as a donor only!!
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E30 320i 3.5 - E23 730 - E3 3.0si - E21 316 M42 - E32 750i
ETC
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Dez I still have those m535i E28 trailing arms and brakes complete... The more I look at this car the more I like it! I had written it off as a donor only!! For my research M535 should be identical to what’s on it, providing this has the dogbone links. I’ve not even looked tbh. The trailing arms/brakes etc. are the same as e34 too. The width difference is only only the shafts and subframe. Hopefully I’m off to buy some body stuff next week then then ball can start rolling. |
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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